Entries Tagged 'rollerskating' ↓

The most under appreciated acrobatic discipline is inline skating.

There’s an amazing acrobatic team from France online at 340jumperz.com.

Jc Leroi

You can also see their stuff at 340jumperz on Facebook.

Thanks to Cirque’s Magalie Coleno for this.

The Evian Water babies have improved their skate skillz.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Brett MacAuley.

Originally posted on Gymnast.

I thought Heelys would be fleeting fad. But they seem to be persisting. (Shaq bought 6 pairs, so they must be durable, as well.)

Heelys Youth Glitter Skate Shoe – Amazon

Heelys are a brand of sneakers (marketed by Heelys, Inc.) that have one or more wheels embedded in each sole, similar to inline skates. Thus, the wearer can walk, run, or, by shifting their weight to their heels, roll. Generally, “Heeling” is a form of skating, and as such may not be allowed in some places, including schools.

Over one million pairs of the shoes were sold in their first year alone. Roger Adams invented and patented Heelys in 1998 while vacationing with family in California …

Wikipedia

Needless to say, kids are taking Heelys to the vert ramp. (video)

But I prefer this innovative clip: Lawnmower and Heelys.

Yes, there are many injuries in these shoes. Pediatrics published one study in 2007. I wasn’t surprised with what they found:

… 56 girls and 11 boys with a mean age of 9.6 years. Upper limbs were the most common location of injury. Distal radius fractures were the most prevalent, followed by supracondylar fractures, elbow dislocations, and hand fractures. The majority of children suffered the injury while heeling or street gliding outdoors. Interestingly, 20% of the injuries happened while trying Heelys or Street Gliders for the first time, and 36% of the injuries occurred while learning (using 1–5 times) how to use them. None of the children used any sort of protective gear at the time of the injury. The majority of the injured children expressed their intention to continue heeling or street gliding after complete recovery from their injury. …

We’d better train kids to use them as we do with roller-skates. They are not going away.

If you’ve never been to the original, famed Woodward East, this (slightly dated) video will give you a good overview. Gymnastics, Cheer, BMX Inline, Skateboard, Snowboard, and more.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Woodward East – official website

Related post: Woodward East offers summer snowboarding

Corvallis, Ore. – The Oregon State University Department of Athletics is one of 11 Division I programs in the nation that has received an “A” for gender equity, in a letter dated Jan. 14, 2008 from Charles L. Kennedy, senior instructor of political science at Pennsylvania State University-York. Oregon State earned a national ranking of seventh, up from 30th the year previous.

The Gender Equity Scorecard V graded 115 universities in 11 major conferences of Division I athletics. The Scorecard staff evaluated the programs’ degree of commitment to women’s sports for the 2005-2006 academic year. The study’s criteria was based on participation, scholarship, coaches’ salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses. The data was obtained utilizing the Chronicle of Higher Education’s study on gender equity via the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA).

Oregon State was joined in the top-11 by North Texas, Nevada, Buffalo, Stanford, Idaho, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Utah and Toledo.

OSU Beavers

Congratulations to those schools.

Related posts:

I’ve said many times before that discrimination is wrong and unethical. But that “reverse discrimination”, while still wrong, is preferable to discrimination.

What happens in arenas of sport that do not monitor gender equity as closely as does the NCAA?

… “For Women, It’s Nearly Ex Games”

First time ever, Woodward West in California is offering a WINTER CAMP for skateboarding, BMX, in-line and mountain biking. Between Christmas and New Years.

Camp Woodward

Gymnasts can go off-season too, at a great price. Contact the camp for details.

This girl is good.

Be patient during the first few seconds of the video. It’s worth it. She’s waiting for her music.

(You can remove the annoying advertisement overlay by clicking on the X.)

Click PLAY or watch it on glumbert.

Thanks George.

Fans of Beatles music should check out this documentary. It uses footage from creation and performance of the Cirque du Soleil show LOVE.

Click PLAY or watch Imagine…The Beatles in Love (part 1) on YouTube.

Part 2 – YouTube includes a glimpse of Head Coach Dan Niehaus and the amazing roller skating act in creation.

Part 3 – YouTube
Part 4 – YouTube
Part 5 – YouTube

LOVE – Cirque du Soleil

I was mentioned in the Camp newsletter. How about that.

Download the entire VAULT Newsletter in PDF format on the Woodward West website.

I took the Saturday afternoon off-season tour of Woodward in Pennsylvania.

It took over 90min to (briefly) tour all venues of the sprawling complex.

This was my first visit to this camp though I am almost a “regular” (2005 and 2006) at Woodward West in California.

Woodward East is an older, larger version set in rural Amish hills.

It offers programs in Skateboarding, Aggressive Skating, and BMX sports including freestyle and racing. In 2006 they added 2-weeks of Snowboard training.

Woodward started as a camp for gymnastics (boys and girls) and now offers Cheer, as well. Trampoline bunje belts are popular.

Woodward East – home page

A few photos to give you a taste of this world class athlete centre:

An important theme of this site is promoting career opportunities for acrobats and acrobatic coaches. The leading employer is Cirque du Soleil though the number of other options is expanding.

Career opportunities like this are a great motivator for athletes.

The Cirque du Soleil Casting team is specifically seeking artists and athletes in the following disciplines:

Artistic, rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastics, circus arts, trampoline, tumbling, diving, synchronized swimming, martial arts, stunts, extreme sports (BMX, rollerblading, etc.), urban acrobatic disciplines (b-boy/hip-hop, urban movement, acrobat-dancers, etc.).

… Do you know any talented individuals interested in joining Cirque du Soleil? …

Auditions based on video demo submission.

Details: www.casting.cirquedusoleil.com

casting @ cirquedusoleil.com.

Almost 300 American camps are listed on the USA Gymnastics website. The format of the database has been much improved in recent years.

Gymnastics, Cheer, Trampoline, Tumbling, Action Sports, Rhythmic, Sports Acro and much more is offered.

The SEARCH function works well.

USA Gymnastics summer camp directory – 2007

I like this.

Justin Slife let us know about a new program at his club in California — North Country Gymnastics & the Gyminny Kids — that is gaining popularity.

Extreme Cross Training is a non-traditional gymnastics course geared towards skateboarding, BMX, motocross, wakeboarding, snowboarding, extreme martial arts, hip-hop, and anything else that inverts.

This class is designed to increase efficiency in basic aerial awareness, thus decreasing the chances of injury out on the real terrain.

Classes will utilize our trampolines, tumble track, air track, mini tramps, and overhead spotting rigs. This is a boys only class for ages 8-10 or 11 & up. Students must first pass or test out of our Handstand level.

We got your flip! 1-800-656-FLIP

The (so-called) extreme athletes are reluctant to get coaching. But as “trained” athletes begin to excel in each discipline, more will sign on for classes like this.